Fewer Homes Foreclosed

Number Of Houses Taken Over By Banks Fell In June

Foreclosure activity dropped in Northwest Arkansas last month but remains higher than 2012.

There were 156 homes in foreclosure in Benton and Washington counties in June, down from 226 in May but up from 90 in June 2012, according to RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosure properties.

By The Numbers

Foreclosure Filing Summary

Comparing the number of filings in June 2012 to June 2013.

*20122013Percent Change

Benton County*56103+83.9

Washington County*3453+55.9

State*398793+99.3

Nation*197,834127,790-35.4

Source: RealtyTrac

Gina Stone of Arvest Bank said the market is improving. She works with the institution’s bank-owned properties.

“In general, residential foreclosures have slowed overall while residential sales have increased,” she said. “I’m optimistic.”

Scott Miller, an executive broker with Lindsey & Associates, said foreclosures’ biggest impact on the real estate market is on a micro level.

“Its effects are seen in pockets, both in location and price range,” he said.

Benton County routinely has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the state and accounted for two-thirds of foreclosures in the two-county area last month.

Arkansas follows the trend of lower foreclosures month-over-month, but higher annual rates. Arkansas had 793 homes in the foreclosure pipeline last month, 477 in May, and 241 in June 2012.

Rates are dropping nationally.

“Halfway through 2013 it is becoming increasingly evident that while foreclosures are no longer a problem nationally, they continue to be a thorn in the side of several state and local markets, particularly where a backlog of delayed distress has built up thanks to a lengthy foreclosure process,” Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac, stated in the monthly report.

Foreclosure activity in Arkansas slowed to a crawl last year because of a federal court case that delayed most foreclosures. The lawsuit was resolved last summer, and foreclosure activity is picking up.

The two-county area accounted for nearly a quarter of all statewide foreclosures during the first half of the year. Benton and Washington counties had 1,074 of the state’s 4,682 foreclosure homes through the first six months of 2013.

But the local market may be improving more quickly than the rest of the state. Only 20 percent of the state’s foreclosed homes were in Northwest Arkansas last month.

Also pointing to an improved market are home sales prices, which are on the rise.

The average price of homes sold this year through the end of May was $183,200 in Benton County and $170,322 in Washington County, according to the Arkansas Realtors Association. Prices were $169,803 and $156,187 over the same time period in 2012.

“Given the rising home prices in most of these markets, it is an opportune time for lenders to dispose of these distressed properties, either at the foreclosure auction to a third-party buyer, or by repossessing the property at the auction and subsequently selling it as a bank-owned home,” Blomquist said.

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